RESUMO
Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) may be able to improve ischemic conditions as they can actively seek out areas of low oxygen and secrete proangiogenic factors. In more severe trauma and chronic cases, however, cells alone may not be enough. Therefore, we have combined the stem cell and angiogenic factor approaches to make a more potent therapy. We developed an engineered stem cell therapy product designed to treat critical limb ischemia that could also be used in trauma-induced scarring and fibrosis where additional collateral blood flow is needed following damage to and blockage of the primary vessels. We used MSCs from normal human donor marrow and engineered them to produce high levels of the angiogenic factor vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The MSC/VEGF product has been successfully developed and characterized using good manufacturing practice (GMP)-compliant methods, and we have completed experiments showing that MSC/VEGF significantly increased blood flow in the ischemic limb of immune deficient mice, compared to the saline controls in each study. We also performed safety studies demonstrating that the injected product does not cause harm and that the cells remain around the injection site for more than 1 month after hypoxic preconditioning. An on-demand formulation system for delivery of the product to clinical sites that lack cell processing facilities is in development.
Assuntos
Células-Tronco Mesenquimais/metabolismo , Fator A de Crescimento do Endotélio Vascular/metabolismo , Animais , Células Cultivadas , Humanos , Transplante de Células-Tronco Mesenquimais , Cicatrização/fisiologiaRESUMO
Pluripotent stem cells are a promising source of endothelial cells (ECs) for the treatment of vascular diseases. We have developed a robust protocol to differentiate human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into ECs with high purities (94%-97% CD31+ and 78%-83% VE-cadherin+ ) in 8 days without cell sorting. Passaging of these cells yielded a nearly pure population of ECs (99% of CD31+ and 96.8% VE-cadherin+ ). These ECs also expressed other endothelial markers vWF, Tie2, NOS3, and exhibited functions of ECs such as uptake of Dil-acetylated low-density lipoprotein and formation of tubes in vitro or vessels in vivo on matrigel. We found that FGF2, VEGF, and BMP4 synergistically induced early vascular progenitors (VPs) from hiPSC-derived mesodermal cells. The MAPK and PI3K pathways are crucial not only for the initial commitment to vascular lineages but also for the differentiation of vascular progenitors to ECs, most likely through regulation of the ETS family transcription factors, ERG and FLI1. We revealed novel roles of the p38 and JNK MAPK pathways on EC differentiation. Furthermore, inhibition of the ERK pathway markedly promoted the differentiation of smooth muscle cells. Finally, we demonstrate that pluripotent stem cell-derived ECs are capable of forming patent blood vessels that were connected to the host vasculature in the ischemic limbs of immune deficient mice. Thus, we demonstrate that ECs can be efficiently derived from hiPSCs and hESCs, and have great potential for vascular therapy as well as for mechanistic studies of EC differentiation. Stem Cells 2017;35:909-919.
Assuntos
Diferenciação Celular , Células Endoteliais/citologia , Células Endoteliais/enzimologia , Células-Tronco Pluripotentes Induzidas/citologia , Sistema de Sinalização das MAP Quinases , Proteínas Quinases Ativadas por Mitógeno/metabolismo , Fosfatidilinositol 3-Quinases/metabolismo , Animais , Proteínas Morfogenéticas Ósseas/metabolismo , Linhagem Celular , Fatores de Crescimento de Fibroblastos/metabolismo , Regulação da Expressão Gênica , Células-Tronco Embrionárias Humanas/citologia , Humanos , Mesoderma/citologia , Camundongos , Miócitos de Músculo Liso/citologia , Miócitos de Músculo Liso/metabolismo , Neovascularização Fisiológica , Fatores de Tempo , Fator A de Crescimento do Endotélio Vascular/metabolismo , Via de Sinalização WntRESUMO
Numerous clinical trials are utilizing mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) to treat critical limb ischemia, primarily for their ability to secrete signals that promote revascularization. These cells have demonstrated clinical safety, but their efficacy has been limited, possibly because these paracrine signals are secreted at subtherapeutic levels. In these studies the combination of cell and gene therapy was evaluated by engineering MSC with a lentivirus to overexpress vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). To achieve clinical compliance, the number of viral insertions was limited to 1-2 copies/cell and a constitutive promoter with demonstrated clinical safety was used. MSC/VEGF showed statistically significant increases in blood flow restoration as compared with sham controls, and more consistent improvements as compared with nontransduced MSC. Safety of MSC/VEGF was assessed in terms of genomic stability, rule-out tumorigenicity, and absence of edema or hemangiomas in vivo. In terms of retention, injected MSC/VEGF showed a steady decline over time, with a very small fraction of MSC/VEGF remaining for up to 4.5 months. Additional safety studies completed include absence of replication competent lentivirus, sterility tests, and absence of VSV-G viral envelope coding plasmid. These preclinical studies are directed toward a planned phase 1 clinical trial to treat critical limb ischemia.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Alcohol insult triggers complex events in the liver, promoting fibrogenic/inflammatory signals and in more advanced cases, aberrant matrix deposition. It is well accepted that the regenerative capacity of the adult liver is impaired during alcohol injury. The liver progenitor/stem cells have been shown to play an important role in liver regeneration -in response to various chronic injuries; however, the effects of alcohol on stem cell differentiation in the liver are not well understood. METHODS: We employed hepatic progenitor cells derived from hESCs to study the impact of ethanol on hepatocyte differentiation by exposure of these progenitor cells to ethanol during hepatocyte differentiation. RESULTS: We found that ethanol negatively regulated hepatic differentiation of hESC-derived hepatic progenitor cells in a dose-dependent manner. There was also a moderate cell cycle arrest at G1/S checkpoint in the ethanol treated cells, which is associated with a reduced level of cyclin D1 in these cells. Ethanol treatment specifically inhibited the activation of the ERK but not JNK nor the p38 MAP signaling pathway. At the same time, the WNT signaling pathway was also reduced in the cells exposed to ethanol. Upon evaluating the effects of the inhibitors of these two signaling pathways, we determined that the Erk inhibitor replicated the effects of ethanol on the hepatocyte differentiation and attenuated the WNT/ß-catenin signaling, however, inhibitors of WNT only partially replicated the effects of ethanol on the hepatocyte differentiation. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated that ethanol negatively regulated hepatic differentiation of hESC-derived hepatic progenitors through inhibiting the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway, and subsequently attenuating the WNT signaling pathway. Thus, our finding provides a novel insight into the mechanism by which alcohol regulates cell fate selection of hESC-derived hepatic progenitor cells, and the identified pathways may provide therapeutic targets aimed at promoting liver repair and regeneration during alcoholic injury.
Assuntos
Células-Tronco Embrionárias/efeitos dos fármacos , Etanol/farmacologia , Hepatócitos/efeitos dos fármacos , Proteína Quinase 1 Ativada por Mitógeno/antagonistas & inibidores , Proteína Quinase 3 Ativada por Mitógeno/antagonistas & inibidores , Ativinas/farmacologia , Animais , Butadienos/farmacologia , Diferenciação Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Linhagem Celular , Ciclina D1/antagonistas & inibidores , Ciclina D1/genética , Ciclina D1/metabolismo , Células-Tronco Embrionárias/citologia , Células-Tronco Embrionárias/metabolismo , Células Alimentadoras , Fibroblastos/citologia , Regulação da Expressão Gênica , Hepatócitos/citologia , Hepatócitos/metabolismo , Humanos , Imidas/farmacologia , MAP Quinase Quinase 4/genética , MAP Quinase Quinase 4/metabolismo , Camundongos , Proteína Quinase 1 Ativada por Mitógeno/genética , Proteína Quinase 1 Ativada por Mitógeno/metabolismo , Proteína Quinase 3 Ativada por Mitógeno/genética , Proteína Quinase 3 Ativada por Mitógeno/metabolismo , Nitrilas/farmacologia , Quinolinas/farmacologia , Transdução de Sinais , Proteína Wnt1/antagonistas & inibidores , Proteína Wnt1/genética , Proteína Wnt1/metabolismo , beta Catenina/antagonistas & inibidores , beta Catenina/genética , beta Catenina/metabolismo , Proteínas Quinases p38 Ativadas por Mitógeno/genética , Proteínas Quinases p38 Ativadas por Mitógeno/metabolismoRESUMO
Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) can be progressively differentiated into definitive endoderm (DE), hepatic progenitors, and hepatocytes, and thus provide an excellent model system for the mechanistic study of hepatocyte differentiation, which is currently poorly understood. Here, we found that insulin enhanced hepatocyte differentiation from hESC-derived DE. Insulin activated the PI3K/AKT pathway, but not the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway in the DE cells, and inhibition of the PI3K/AKT pathways by inhibitors markedly inhibited hepatocyte differentiation. In addition, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) and IGF2 also activated the PI3K/AKT pathway in DE cells and their expression was robustly upregulated during hepatocyte differentiation from DE. Furthermore, inhibition of IGF receptor 1 (IGF1R) by a small molecule inhibitor PPP or knockdown of the IGF1R by shRNA attenuated hepatocyte differentiation. Moreover, simultaneous knockdown of the IGF1R and the insulin receptor with shRNAs markedly reduced the activation of AKT and substantially impaired hepatocyte differentiation. The PI3K pathway specifically enhanced the expression of HNF1 and HNF4 to regulate hepatocyte differentiation from DE. Although inhibition of the PI3K pathway was previously shown to be required for the induction of DE from hESCs, our study revealed a positive role of the PI3K pathway in hepatocyte differentiation after the DE stage, and has advanced our understanding of hepatocyte cell fate determination.